I think my Father is being spared by the LORD almighty. His mother was dead at my age from cardiac difficulties, and he had his first heart attack around the same age. Thirty years later and a multiple health issues later, he is a rock of the faith. And he coordinates for Exodus ministries, working with men who struggle with homosexuality and wish to change.
Something only the church can do, for it has been deemed and voted unethical for a psychologist or psychiatrist to do this. In that craft, you do not choose who you see: I work with and have treated many people. Most of them have had troubled lives — the happy do not see a psychiatrist.
Theologically, I consider the expansion of perverted desire as a red flag that a society has abandoned God. I’d also note that these perversions are not merely homosexuality: that (and the tolerance of a syncretic perversity in action and thinking) are the early signs. The latter signs are a move from civilization, where we disagree with words, to anarcho-tyranny, where disagreements are settled with knives, swords and guns.
10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD,
13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.16For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”
18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; 21for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
Y have much sympathy for my gay friends in the church. Singleness sucks. Celibacy does not fit us all: getting married in this world is quite risky (I’ve seen the fallout of gay and straight relationships ending. Both are ugly, both damage, and both in NZ get dragged into the family court meat grinder). My conflict here is not with scripture, but with people who see only that sin. And I tend to be blind to the damage that homosexuality can do — in part because I work in a fairly feminized workplace, and see the damage feminism has wrought. But when corruption occurs, it causes deep damage.
Proph notes (having dismissed Ratzinger resigning because of scandal, correctly in my view)
The homosexual lobby claim, on the other hand, isn’t ridiculous at all, and it’s not reasonable to think Benedict, a long-time curial insider, was somehow unaware of its existence until five minutes ago. Back when he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, for instance, he denounced what he called “filth” in the Vatican, a conspicuously particular word choice that would seem to refer to something more repulsive than mere cronyism or book-cooking. Father Dariusz Oko wrote a damning piece recently about the pervasive influence of homosexuals in seminaries, chanceries, and the Curia, a group he terms the “homomafia.” And we need look no further for an example of its influence than the legacy of Archbishop-emeritus Rembert Weakland, whose aggressively subversive ministry culminated in his embezzling diocesan funds to pay off his illicit lover, and who deliberately shielded perverts in his diocese by threatening libel suits against those who reported their predations.
Meanwhile, another cardinal has been accused of perversion, though who knows if its mere opportunism or is motivated by the sense that the lid is about to be blown off this crap. (UPDATE: Cardinal O’Brien resigned this morning.)
Supposedly, the three Cardinals’ report will be presented to the College of Cardinals during the general congregation at the beginning of the coming sede vacante, so if there is any truth to the claim, they’ll know it going into the conclave.
I’ve just shown the damage that can be done by institutionalizing corruption. Homosexual priests are vulnerable to blackmail, have taken young lovers, and caused great scandal. But only one in twenty to one in fifty men are gay. Most of the evil in the church is done by others. Moreover, these issues affect all churches, including mine.
Levels of trust are not increased by the difficult debates we encounter at assembly. Every Assembly some liberal parishes bring proposals to fall from the 2006 ruling prohibiting those in sexual relationships outside of faithful marriage between a man and a woman from being ministers or elders. This time there were three and each one was defeated. These debates are emotional and often torrid, leaving everyone feeling bruised. It is important to understand that those in favour of people living in gay and lesbian relationships being ministers and elders see this as an issue of justice, liberty of opinion, keeping up with the times, and avoiding discrimination. The majority of assembly seemed to believe that the Bible teaches us that God calls us to his standard for sexual relationships as within heterosexual marriage. As I voted with that majority, I reflected that being in the majority can easily lead to a harsh judgementalism of those who are different. Christians are called to both grace and truth (John 1). We must demonstrate love while standing for biblical values. Is it possible to welcome gay and lesbian people into churches while saying we believe a homosexual lifestyle falls short of God’s standards? Gay and lesbian people would say that isn’t possible. I would argue that we welcome all people, and all are challenged to repentance in some area or other. But the “love the sinner, hate the sin” argument isn’t easy to live out in practice. My challenge to myself and to all who believe that a homosexual lifestyle is sinful is: How many gay and lesbian people are you showing the love of God to?
My solution is bleak, but easy. I firmly believe we are all totally depraved. We are all evil. We are all equally guilty, and we all should fear God, for he would not tolerate my filth. Let alone yours. When we teach on this, we need to remember that the gays are canaries in the mineshaft. If their numbers increase, then a society is apostate. And when those who Ann Coulter once described as having the fabulosity gene lose jobs and notice things are going wrong, pay attention — because the service jobs they tend to have are often the first to disappear when the economy crashes.